Inspirational Quotes!!

Friday, October 30, 2009

Stranger in the Mirror (1) - Internal Dialogues

Pam is an accomplished dancer with a fit body and flawless complexion. Though a positive, successful, and engaging person, Pam avoided prolonged looks into her mirror. Negative streams of thought would chide her, “Your nose is too crooked. Your skin is a mess. You’re too fat. ...”.

Pam knew these conversations were untrue and fought back with an internal debate and attempts of positive thinking. However, these daily internal dialogues would creep back into her thoughts time and again and cast seeds of doubt in her mind. Hence, to avoid all these hassles, she simply stopped making eye contact with the ‘stranger’ in the mirror.

It is all too common for many people, when faced with an uncomfortable situation, to find relief in avoidance and distraction.

The Internal Dialogue:

You and Your Thoughts are Different From One Another....
No matter how good or accomplished some people are, they are always confronted by this harsh critical inner-voice. This is the voice of self doubt. The key is whether we identify with it as who we are.

The Internal Dialogue Goes Underground....
Most of us simply ignore these voices and believe that “it is only our thoughts running through our mind”. However, it does not stop the force it exerts over your life. Like it or not, these self-thoughts influence our minds and our lives. Gining a window into this internal dialogue is essential if we want to discover a deeper purpose, meaning, and joy for our lives.

The Internal Dialogue Creates the Box of Our Comfort Zone....
Like Pam, many of us don’t even realize that an internal dialogue is happening. Others merely hear an almost inaudible whisper.
Still others hear the internal dialogue and it makes them uncomfortable. So they avoid listening to it, and this limits their lives.
Others fearing the negative assessment in their minds, shrink their lives into a comfort zone so that they will not be noticed. The comfort zone locks them into familiar, habitual ways and they get stuck in old repeating patterns. This is called a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Conversations in the Mind that Shape Our Perception of the World

Very few people learn how to observe the internal dialogue, question it, and explore it. It is through the exploration of these voices that we set ourselves free of their control over our lives and tap into the potential that lies buried within us.

To wake up to the internal dialogue allows you to become an active participant in the creation of your life destiny. We are all born into and adapt to a world of established patterns of perception. These perceptual patterns govern how we understand the world and what we see as possible in our lives. Once established, they become the world we live in!

If you want to transform your world, you have to learn how to identify the conversation that controls the thinking in your mind and break free from the hold the narrative has over your life!

Next week we will discover how to regain control of our lives. In the meantime, feel free to comment and share what your internal dialogues are.